TRADITIONAL, NOT CONVENTIONAL.

Safe Food (August 12, 2014)

(My apologies for neglecting to list the symptoms of foodborne illness last week. [article "Foodborne Illness"] They are most commonly nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea. That’s because the offending microbes enter the body through the gastrointestinal system, which is also where the infection begins. Thousands of people per year die from these things, so if in addition to those symptoms you also experience fever, numbness and tingling or other neurological symptoms, or if the diarrhea is persistent to the point of dehydration, you may be in big trouble and should get to your local ER immediately.)

Last week I was speaking of the origins of food poisoning (better called “foodborne illness” since most of the time the culprit is infection rather than toxins) and how I suspected that most cases of it are the fault of our food producers and their "regulators". Even if that is true, it does not get home cooks off the hook. In fact, it makes home food preparation even more important than if our food providers were conscientious about safety. So following please find a brief (and by no means comprehensive) summary of home food preparation.

Raw foods, particularly those of animal origin, are the ones most likely to contain dangerous microbes. Some foods (like ground beef and milk) are combined from multiple animals and are thus even more likely to be contaminated. After uncooked animal products, unwashed fruits and vegetables is the category most likely to cause foodborne illness. Are organic and locally-grown foods less likely to be contaminated? Maybe, but I would not treat them any differently than regular supermarket food.

“Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill” are the Words From On High as to what to do in food preparation at home. In more detail: cleaning (more on this next), separating (since most offending microbes are originally from animals, keep raw meat, sea food and eggs separated from everything else until well cooked), cooking (to an internal temperature above 160 F for even a few seconds destroys most of the microbes that can cause foodborne illness), and chilling (refrigerate anything that isn’t going to be eaten within four hours to keep any microbes present from reproducing to a dangerous level).

How and when to clean raw fruits and vegetables is actually a bit controversial. If you buy them pre-packaged with a notation that they’ve been cleaned and are ready to eat, the recommendation is not to clean them again. But if they haven’t been cleaned already, CLEAN THEM, because about a third of food poisoning cases come from raw fruits and vegetables.

Here’s the official advice for preparation of produce: “rinse fresh fruits and vegetables in running tap water to remove visible dirt and grime.” Soak produce for one to two minutes (separate heads of leafies into their individual leaves and soak them a couple minutes longer than that) in cold water, then rinse them under running water, using a brush for thicker-skinned produce if necessary. During that soaking phase you can put in several drops of grapefruit seed extract oil or cinnamon essential oil if it makes you feel better about the whole thing, but be sure you rinse the produce well afterwards. OR: you can use a vinegar/water rinse. One part vinegar to three parts water in a spray bottle, spray the produce and leave it on for half a minute before rinsing. This recommendation is straight from the Food Nazis at Cook's Illustrated, who found that that procedure wipes out 98% of bacteria as opposed to about 85% with water alone, and I'm a fan -- so that's what I'm going to do from now on.

Finally, here are two random items that I include out of sheer interest.

(1) In about half of food poisoning outbreaks, there is “no pathogen (that) can be identified”. Really? HALF? Mind you, we are talking outbreaks here, not isolated cases that show up at a hospital ER. Very, very weird.

(2) The CDC specifically advises that you not change a baby’s diaper while preparing food. If there has ever been a piece of advice that can stand on its own without further comment, it's that one. It really, really makes me want to go wash my hands, right now.